In case you do not follow me on Twitter, I owe you an apology. There is no excuse for a bye-week from your favorite fantasy analyst without any notice. If you don’t know, my grandfather passed away Wednesday morning after we were told that he would have just a month to live the night before. My heart wasn’t in it and I didn’t want to just spew out random numbers and half-hearted thoughts. I received a lot of support from you readers and I can’t thank you enough for what your encouraging words meant to me. I hope you all continue to read my musings on the world of fantasy football and it’s time to go get us some championships.

Pick ups

Ronnie Hillman, RB, DEN – With Willis McGahee out for 6-8 weeks with an MCL tear, Ronnie Hillman is the top Waiver Wire pickup of the week. He is going to split some time with Lance Ball, who is also worth a grab in DEEP leagues, but it is Hillman’s opportunity to capitalize on. If you are a McGahee owner, you need to run (not walk) to free agency or the waiver wire.

Danario Alexander, WR, SD – Alexander is a physically big target for Rivers in the passing game and he is now taking over for Robert Meachem. Alexander has had two big games this year (the first filling in for Antonio Gates) and actually has a lot of upside. This team needs to find a way to re-invigorate the passing game and Phillip Rivers. Alexander might just give them a spark.

Jalen Parmele, RB, JAC – The Jaguars gave no notice to fantasy owners that Rashad Jennings had squandered his opportunity away. There is now officially a new starting QB, a new top fantasy WR and a new top fantasy RB on this offense going into next week. Parmele’s value is tied to the return of MJD but in the mean time, the upside is better for Parmele than it was for Jennings because Henne appears to be able to stretch the field with the vertical passing game. This guy will be an “if your desperate” starter this week.

Justin Blackmon, WR, JAC – Blackmon had a staggering 236 yards and a TD this week against a typically stout defensive backfield as the Jaguars lost a tight game on the road at Houston this past week. Kicker is that it took the back-up QB coming into the game to give this offense a spark. I was big on Blackmon as a sleeper in the preseason and pin his shortcomings on Blaine Gabbert being a terrible QB more than anything. If Henne can keep getting him involved, Blackmon could be a HUGE acquisition this week.

James Starks, RB, GB – I said it as soon as Benson went down… Starks is the best RB that the Packers have on the active roster. He has more experience in the offense and is, in my opinion, more talented. Green was almost non-existent this past week and his ownership levels should be non-existent after waivers get processed this week.

Brandon Meyers, TE, OAK – This guy has been VERY consistent for a few weeks now. The Raiders offense passes the ball, a lot, and Meyers is clearly a top 10 TE. I wouldn’t expect a lot of double-digit point games (unless it’s a PPR league) but he is going to see targets and he will get you a respectable fantasy point total for the week.

Beanie Wells, RB, ARI – LaRod Stephens-Howling had a really strong game this past week but Beanie is going to destroy any fantasy value at the RB position on the Cardinals. The only possible outcomes are that there are no viable options in that backfield or Beanie is a flex-able option with the lion’s share of the workload.

Dump List

Joique Bell, RB, DET – I advocated stashing Bell on your bench for a bit because he was getting a few carries and was involved in the passing game. With Stafford faltering and his carries down to almost none, you can just drop Bell now.

Dustin Keller, TE, NYJ – He is a very viable waiver wire roulette option still but if he was going to make a serious impact and become a must-start tight end, we would know by now. This week went as well as it could have for the Jets offense and Keller just wasn’t a factor.

Titus Young, WR, DET – I am not saying you should drop Young, I am saying that I am fine with it. He’s benched from the Thanksgiving game due to his on field issues and it isn’t clear if his snap-count will be affected by his place in Jim Schwartz’s dog house.

Michael Bush, RB, CHI – 55% of leagues still have Bush as owned. Around 30% of the owners that own Bush should get smacked around. If you don’t have Forte and there is any chance you want to start the guy holding this roster spot, you HAVE to drop him. You (if you don’t own Forte) should really only keep him if you are cruising to a playoff spot and don’t have any injury prone running backs.

Andre Roberts, WR, ARI – This team is plummeting and with all the bye weeks behind us, you need to drop Roberts now. There is an insane amount of free agent talent this week and Roberts only has two even remotely decent match-ups left.

Isaac Redman, RB, PIT – He was barely worth keeping before the concussion. Get one of the guys on the list above instead.

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN – He didn’t find the endzone in this game but we can forgive him because he racked up 190 yards! About time CJ. I’ll be treating him as a low end RB1 until im sure he really has it turned around. Hopefully he does and hopefully its not too late for you.

Drew Brees, QB, NO – The Saints have been a very good football team all year long. Brees and the offense played as close to perfect as I have seen them play all season last night and Brees ended up the top-scoring fantasy player in the NFL for week 12. If you own Brees and are headed into the playoffs, you should be ecstatic. This offense is scary to say the least and with Graham and Sproles really entrenched into this offense now, they are firing on all cylinders.

Roy Helu, RB, WAS – The Skins finally had a solid running game this week with Helu carrying the load and Torain riding the pine. We have little reason to expect Shanahan to keep riding Helu but he will remain a solid flex play for as long as he keeps being the most productive back on that offense.

Victor Cruz, WR, NYG – I am almost tempted to start rankings Cruz above Nicks but I just won’t be able to do it. Cruz is a must-start and really ought to be above Manningham on the depth chart when both guys are healthy. Cruz’s hands and speed are a scary combination that have really proved to be a difference maker for the Giants. Nicks is still the go-to-guy and a better red-zone target so he will remain above Cruz on my rankings but the gap is getting very narrow.

Beanie Wells, RB, ARI – Beanie is incredibly frustrating from a fantasy standpoint. He is #9 in the NFL among RBs for fantasy points scored yet he has had 4 pretty terrible games and very possibly cost you wins in each of those weeks. Bottom line with Wells is that when he is healthy, you have to start him. The Cardinals offense relies heavily on the running game to provide balance and he WILL see a large number of carries in every start that he gets.

Johnny Knox, WR, CHI – Caleb Hanie played pretty poorly in this game but the Bears were competitive in the game and Hanie was able to exploit the Raiders’ secondary at times and find his top receiver on a fair few big plays. Knox had a great game all around and helped with kick returns too but I would be careful trusting him too much next week. I want to see him do it next week before I bother to try and start him with my season on the line.

Duds

Jordy Nelson, WR, GB – This was a bit of an off-week for Rodgers and the Packers. They won fairly convincingly but Jennings, Nelson AND Jones didn’t all catch TD passes. Off weeks are tough… Keep starting Nelson as he scores far more often than not and there are a lot of mouths to feed in that passing game.

Frank Gore, RB, SF – Don’t beat yourself up for starting him, you had to. But, only one straw was going to break in that game on Thanksgiving night and it wasn’t the Ravens’. With the Rams and Cardinals as opponents over the next two weeks, Gore is sure to get things turned around.

Vincent Jackson, WR, SD – I still can’t decide what the bigger story was out of that GREAT game on Sunday between the Chargers and the Broncos; the Chargers’ continued collapse or the Broncos continued surge. One thing is sure, talent isn’t enough. Jackson and Rivers should easily both be top 10 fantasy producers at their positions but Norv Turner does not seem to have this team playing for anything at the moment. VJax is just a mediocre WR2 the rest of the way and ideally you can use him in your flex.

Mike Wallace, WR, PIT – I loved Wallace this week and couldn’t have been more wrong. I would love him again next week if they played against the Chiefs again however. I didn’t see a lot of this game but it was disheartening that the Steelers were not able to rout the hapless Chiefs. A win is a win however so we will have to just keep playing our Steelers and not panic much over a mediocre game.